The Kittens of Peace
by CuttySark
Summary: Ark Royal helping Bismarck to cope with the confusion of the modern age.
1. Am I Hated?

"Sam?"

Bismarck called out with a soft voice, which was probably detrimental to her effort to actually be heard, but she didn't want to cause a ruckus amidst the busy dockworkers.

Besides, it wouldn't do to have the mighty Bismarck screaming in panic for a lost cat.

Well, he's not really lost. He's a stray cat, after all. The base just had unofficially taken him as a mascot.

It was not Bismarck that had named the cat, it was the Japanese admiral. She noticed that she had both the Ark Royal and the Bismarck together in the same base, and thus chose to name the cat after the legendary cat that the two ships had historically shared as their mascot. Bismarck still wondered whether or not the admiral remembered that every ship the 'Unsinkable Sam' had boarded always ended up underwater.

Still, despite the possible risk of the entire base getting sunk by a massive tsunami, Bismarck had grown fond of the feline. She did not exactly remember the original Sam. The memory she had inherited from her long-dead crew didn't go that deep. But her crew were definitely a bunch of cat lovers and their feelings had definitely marked her soul since she just couldn't leave the cat alone.

"Here kitty." Bismarck whispered, rubbing the package of dry cat food in her pocket while her other hand kept a tight grip on a small bottle of water. Cats couldn't feel thirst, so you should always give them a lot of water so that they didn't get dehydrated. Bismarck wished she had a proper meat to give, but she just didn't have the time to leave the base to buy anything fresh lately.

How frustrating. The longer she spent walking around with no clear direction the more the chance someone was going to ask her about where she was going, and then she would have to lie. She could've done something better with her time, like calibrating her rigging, or reinforcing the optics of her rangefinders, but here she was, looking for a cat. That's not very disciplined, and thus, not very German.

Then again, what was 'German' anyway? Bismarck could barely recognize modern Germany today. She could still remember the controversies when the Bundeswehr started utilizing _Kanmusu_ units for the first time. She was familiar with humanity's impressive capability to hate, but she had never experienced those hate being directed at herself, not even from the British. It was a learning experience, she supposed.

 _"Zivilunken…"_

Bismarck kept on walking until she found herself near the edge of the base where there were barely any people. Without the distraction of a crowd, Bismarck eyes easily found the thing she had been looking for.

But unfortunately for her, her eyes also found the very thing she had been trying to avoid ever since she was posted to this base.

Superimposed over the drab grey color of asphalt and concrete, her white gown and pearly skin easily drew all attention, not to mention her dark pink hair. She was seated on a lonely park bench that seemed really out of place in the highly utilitarian environment of the facility, like someone had just brought it there one day for a picnic and then just forgot about it. Her hand was dancing, locked firmly in a mock combat with a certain animal that Bismarck had spent the better part of the afternoon looking for.

Sam's back was pressed flat against the wooden surface of the bench, with the top of his head tucked firmly against the girl's thigh. Cats' nature of being semi-liquid was fully observable with Sam almost looking like a partially deflated, black and white hot water bottle willed into life.

The girl was smiling as she toyed with the cat, her fast hand withdrawing just before Sam's extended claws could touch her nearly flawless skin. She didn't seem to care about the numerous amused stares given by the various personnel around her. Frankly, it made Bismarck felt somewhat silly about her own reservation.

The girl raised her pink head, and her eyes immediately darted towards Bismarck's location. Bismarck knew that she too wasn't exactly the most inconspicuous thing around, being about at least two heads taller than the humans around her. That's what you'd get for being the biggest surface ship of the Kriegsmarine.

Bismarck froze up for a second when the pink haired girl unexpectedly smiled and raised her white-sleeved arm, signaling for Bismarck to come to her. Bismarck was not sure whether the smile was a mockery or a genuine one, so she just stood there as she pondered how to answer this invitation. So far she had done a good job of not really interacting with the girl unless it was mission critical, but would turning her back now be seen as running away? Either way, it would be very rude.

Bismarck let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding as the pink-haired girl shrugged and turned her attention back towards the cat, seemingly losing interest in the German capital ship. The girl's continuing attention was immediately reciprocated and the cat began resuming their play with the utmost vigor.

An involuntary smile perked up on Bismarck's stoic face as she continued to witness the innocent display in front of her. She was not sure why, but her legs suddenly started moving towards the bench.

The pink-haired girl raised her head for a second to acknowledge that her invitation had been answered before returning her attention back to the cat.

"Good afternoon, Bismarck." she said, not moving her eyes away from the joyful cat.

"Ark Royal." Bismarck answered with what she thought was a deep and charismatic tone.

Ark Royal looked up. "Ah, the classic German greeting. Less of an actual greeting than merely acknowledging that your conversation partner exists."

Their eyes met. It was the first time that Bismarck noticed that Ark actually had blue eyes, a shade that was so faint that they almost looked grey.

"This is why your country had a hard time making allies, you know."

"Realpolitik has no concern for friendships, only interests."

"Still, the people do notice, and a smile on a pretty face could achieve more than dozens of international treaties."

Spoken like a true royal.

"Why did you call me?" Bismarck cut straightforwardly.

"Well, you were just standing there looking like a lost puppy, so I thought maybe you'd like some company."

"I did not look like a lost puppy." Bismarck barked, herself not sure of why she was so unreasonably offended by that statement.

"Indeed, you did not." Ark Royal smiled. This time it was definitely a mocking smile. "You actually looked more like a lost kitten."

"What."

"Yeah, actually you looked exactly like this little guy here just a minute ago, only smaller and more vulnerable." Ark Royal said as Sam failed yet again to put a scratch on her skin. "You looked really lonely, like you could really use a friend to play with. It's kind of adorable."

"I-I am not adorable!" Bismarck protested, uncharacteristically losing her composure.

"Would you have preferred 'cute' instead?"

And with those words, it was as if the air between the two girls suddenly froze.

"Honestly I can't tell whether you're angry or embarrassed, but your face do make a beautiful red hue." Ark Royal said, grinning at Bismarck's red face.

"You...you…"

Bismarck felt her face heating up, but even she wasn't sure whether it was rage or shame that made it so. What she knew for sure was only that she really wanted to punch the British girl right in the face, right now.

And then, Bismarck's field of view was filled in its entirety by the face of a confused, dumb-looking cat.

"So, what is it now?" Ark Royal asked, now standing up. Her arms extended forward, putting a very disoriented cat right on Bismarck's face. The way the girl was holding the animal, letting his body stretch down without any support, kind of reminded Bismarck of a lump of mishandled bread dough.

"What are you talking about?"

"Are we going to feed the cat or not?"

"Huh?"

"That cat food in your pocket. Would you not take it out?"

Silence fell as Bismarck's brain instinctively scrambled for excuses, only to be stopped flat when Ark Royal's hand grabbed hers.

"Maybe you should sit."

Once again their eyes met. Ark's silver-blue eyes stared unblinking, waiting. Somehow this made Bismarck felt uncomfortable, like she was a prey in front of a snake's hypnotizing gaze.

"Are you still afraid?"

Bismarck stood her ground, the only thing she could do with such a sudden attack.

Ark Royal smiled again. It was the same cheerful smile as before, but it was amazing how the way her eyes looked at Bismarck now could make her look less like a careless teen and more like a concerned mother.

"I'm an aircraft carrier, you know? I'm only dangerous at range."

The sound of purring could be heard as Sam began to snuggle against the arm that was currently holding him like a newborn baby. Meanwhile, Bismarck could feel Ark's other hand loosening her grasp on her.

"Do you feel that? I'm as fragile as an eagle in a cage. This close, you can break me easily."

"What makes you think I'm afraid of you?" Bismarck protested, though she was not sure of her own words.

"You're not?" Ark tilted her head.

"I'm not."

"Then you have no reason to not sit here with me, yes?"

And that's when Bismarck knew she had been caught.

"Tch, fine. If you insist."

"I do."

Bismarck grunted, not resisting as Ark led her to sit down on the bench.

Ark Royal took her seat by the right side of Bismarck, putting Sam the cat right between them. He immediately began snuggling up to Bismarck, demanding petting.

"Aw, he likes you better than me." Ark sulked, looking genuinely upset.

"He probably just sniffed the cat food."

Bismarck reached into her pocket. Her pocket was quite cleverly hidden given that her combat uniform, which allowed her to bond with her rigging, did not actually have that much fabric in it. Honestly, this fact got mentioned slightly more often than Bismarck would've liked.

"My goodness, that grey napkin you call clothes actually has pockets."

"May I remind you that your face is well within the range of my fist?"

"Are you always this hostile?"

"Only with certain people."

"Why, I feel so special."

Bismarck shook her read, refusing to play to Ark's tune. Instead, she tore open the package of cat food and began pouring its content on the bench. Sam was looking at the whole process curiously, like he wasn't sure what was going on.

"Yes, this is food, for you." Bismarck assured.

"He's not the brightest of cats, is he?" Ark commented.

Bismarck had seen pictures of the original Sam. He did have the same fur pattern and colors as this one, but he was definitely a more world-weary cat. This one was just...fat.

"Have someone bathed him recently? He looked clean."

"I did. He was just looking so miserable and dirty I just had to do it."

"He'd let you do that?"

"Not willingly he's not. Fortunately, his claws were no match for British steel."

Ark swished her hand wildly in the air for a second, showing off her pristine white skin. The _Kanmusu_ units were gifted with outer skins that felt indistinguishable from that of normal humans despite being stronger than steel, but they're far from invulnerable. Even now Bismarck noticed the calloused digits of Ark's hand where the string of her bow had struck countless times.

"Huh, that's very kind of you." Bismarck said off-handedly.

"Whoa." Ark twitched her eyes, suddenly looking surprised.

"What? What is it?"

"Did you actually just say something nice for once?"

"You bathed a dirty stray cat. What did you expect me to say?"

"Maybe you'd say that bathing was unhealthy for cats? Just to spite me?"

"That's absurd."

"Well, some people do think that."

"Then I'm not one of them."

"Hm…"

The two watched quietly as Sam finally figured out what he was supposed to do and began munching on his food, filling the surprisingly quiet air with the sound of cracking kibbles. Bismarck looked around and realized that this area of the base had become desolate. She and Ark were the only souls around now.

"I really like this spot. It's always quiet and peaceful around this hour."

"Right...peaceful."

Alone with only Ark Royal by her side, Bismarck was as far away from the concept of peaceful as possible.

"You look quite stressed."

"No, it's just my normal look. You must be imagining things."

"Oh, is that so?" Ark Royal put one hand on her chin, while her other hand was resting on Sam's back. "Say, are you doing anything critical in the next few hours?"

"Critical?"

"Yeah, like driving a heavy vehicle and such."

"Can't say I will."

With more and more _Kanmusu_ coming to the frontline, Bismarck had noticed a significant increase in her downtime. Most of the daily duties could be accomplished by the heavy cruisers and other smaller units, saving the capital ships for more critical missions. Still, being a purpose built 'fast-raider' Bismarck was considerably busier than other capital ships, often leading a small flotilla to engage in guerilla-esque warfare attacking the enemy's weakspots.

"Then, would you partake?"

"What?"

With a single fluid motion, Ark reached under her shoulder cape and pulled out what Bismarck first thought would be a hand grenade, but instead it was just a flask. An engraved glass flask. It was made so expertly that despite its transparency Bismarck could clearly make out what was engraved on it. A wooden boxship with no visible sail, with numerous doors and little portholes giving it a good sense of scale. Stylized letters were engraved right below.

THE ARK

Below it there was another set of letters, written in a smaller font.

 _Desir Na Repos_ , most likely the shortening of _Desire n'a pas Repos_ , "Zeal Does Not Rest", just so that it'll fit on an emblem. Still, the craftsmanship required to make such small letters must be quite valuable.

"Is that custom made?"

"Oh, you can tell?"

"Our ships have very good optics." Bismarck said with a hint of pride.

"They are very fragile, though."

Bismarck flinched as she was suddenly reminded of how long the Royal Navy had needed to completely disable her guns.

"Anyway, you're right. It is handmade. The man who made this actually holds a royal warrant."

"Your Queen has a royal warrant for flask-making?"

"No, he's a regular glass-shaper. I had to pull a favor to get it made."

"What kind of favor?" Bismarck eyed suspiciously.

"Well, his daughter got to take pictures with me."

"Oh."

"What? What did you think I did?"

"Nothing." Bismarck shook her head unconvincingly. "You're going to offer me a sip?"

"Oh, right." Ark blinked. "That's what I was going to do."

Ark extended her arm towards Bismarck, offering her liquor, only for Bismarck to eye the flask suspiciously.

"Oh, come on, do I really look that evil?"

Ark shrugged, opened the cap of her flask, and took a single sip.

Her face immediately turned red, which was concerning. Generally, it's rather hard to get a _Kanmusu_ unit drunk on normal human liquors. It's still possible, but it had to be a relatively strong alcohol and the girl had to be comparatively lightweight.

Bismarck had seen Ark outdrank a Yamato-class battleship.

"The hell is in that thing?" Bismarck almost shouted, sounding rightfully worried.

The liquid inside was clear, making the flask almost seemed empty. But near the top where the sun shined through Bismarck could see a glint of a rainbow, like an oil spill on a clear pond.

"Oh, just my own brew." Ark said nonchalantly, taking another sip. "That's why it has to be glass, you see. Any other material and the lining would just melt and ruin the taste."

"You know how to brew?"

"Picked the basic when I was stationed in Belfast, got some pointers when I was in New Jersey, and then some of the girls here gave me some amazing local tips." Ark said, managing to slip in yet another sip from her flask while she did so.

Ark's skin was now blossoming red, the color spreading from her cheeks to the rest of her face at a worryingly fast pace. Yet somehow she still managed to speak with clarity, her face not shedding even an inch of her usual poise and dignity.

"So, how about a sip?" she tilted her head, giving a soft royal smile.

Once again Ark raised her flask in an offering, but this time her movement was clumsy, so much that she nearly hit poor Sam right on the face. The cat finally stopped munching for long enough to realize the possible danger to society sitting right next to him and began to meekly inch towards Bismarck, eyes pointed carefully at the direction of the increasingly inebriated carrier.

"Hm? You don't want any?" Ark said, not even slurring. If it's not for her bright red face one could hardly believe the girl was even drunk at all. But even if her face was sober Bismarck could just barely see that her eyes were starting to get unfocused, like the girl was staring through her instead of at her. Meanwhile, the skin around her nose had started to match the color of her hair.

"You want or not?" said ark, her choice of words now considerably simpler compared to a minute ago.

"I'd rather not." said Bismarck sensibly. "I'm not sure, but I think public drinking is illegal in this country."

"Oh? Is the little cabbage-bellied Jerry afraid of a little alcohol?" Ark smirked, somehow still managing to look like a sneering royalty rather than a drunk sailor.

"I'm not playing your game." Bismarck resisted, starting to get up from the bench.

"Thank you for taking care of the cat, but I must excuse myself." the German said as she began to leave, putting the bag of cat food and the bottle of water she had been carrying on the bench. "Make sure he has enough to drink. Goodbye."

Bismarck managed to walk all of seven steps before Ark opened her mouth.

"Ah, yes, running away again are you?"

Bismarck stopped.

"Excuse me?"

"Guess that's all you can expect from a commerce raider, isn't it? Picking on the weak and then run away from anything even remotely resembling a fair fight? Like a glorified oversized submarine!"

Bismarck turned back.

"Actually, as a submarine you're pretty good at submerging, though your ability to resurface is questio-"

Ark's immediately shut her mouth when she realized that Bismarck was already standing right in front of her, looming tall with a terrifying expression. Her long blond hair fell like a curtain around her face, giving her a very dark look only broken by the shine of her bright blue eyes staring right into the British girl's soul.

"I'm sorry." Ark whimpered, suddenly feeling like she was deprived of all her liquid courage.

"You're really pissing me off, you know?"

"I'll stop. Please just let me live." Ark said, forcing an awkward smile on her face.

Sensing danger, Sam the cat jumped from the bench to the ground, knocking over the bottle of water Bismarck had left prior. The cheaply made plastic cracked as it hit the floor, soaking the bottom of Bismarck's shoes and creating adorable, wet paw-prints on the concrete as Sam ran away for his life.

"Give me that."

"Huh?"

Without waiting for any response, Bismarck snatched the flask away from Ark's now feeble grasp and wrapped her lips around the opening, before leaning back and letting gravity do the rest. Ark could only watch in a weird mixture of amusement and horror as the liquid whirlpooled into the belly of the German girl.

"I don't think that's a good idea…" Ark warned half-heartedly.

"Oh, quiet you. This is no-Oh."

Bismarck's legs suddenly wobbled, causing her to fall forwards. She tried to recover but failed, leaving her to fall on her butt right next to Ark and knocking what little was left of the cat food over the edge of the bench. The British carrier squirmed as she was suddenly squeezed between the bench's armrest and Bismarck's bare shoulder.

Bismarck shook her head, recovering her consciousness. She then looked at Ark and smiled devilishly.

"This is a fine craft." Bismarck said while glancing at the glass flask, sounding surprisingly dignified even with all of her exposed skin starting to flush red. "I think I'll keep it. You won't mind, do you?"

Ark shook her head very slowly, and very carefully, and very fearfully.

"Good."

Bismarck promptly put her challenge prize in one of her convenient pockets hidden in her tiny outfit, before gritting her teeth as suddenly a wave of pain struck her head. It felt hot, like a new boiler had just apparated in her head right under her conning tower.

"Ugh, that was probably a bad idea." Bismarck murmured, sounding deflated.

"It's a flask, not a mug." Ark spoke out, having recovered from her initial shock. "You're supposed to take a sip little by little and finish it up in a course of a whole day."

"Yeah, didn't know what came over me."

Ark sighed. "I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have said all those things." she said, sounding genuinely guilty.

"Nah, it's alright." Bismarck leaned back. "It's true, anyway. I was just useless. All that steel and couldn't even last a year."

Bismarck looked up to the sky, putting one palm over her eyes.

"Uh…are you alright?" Ark reached towards Bismarck, but before she could touch her she gently slapped her hand away.

"I'm okay. Just...just stop me if I'm about to do something incredibly stupid."

"Oh?" Ark gave a curious smile. "You're not afraid that I'm going to record you instead?"

Bismarck eyed the girl sitting next to her with her unfocused eyes, her expression dull and unreadable.

"Would you do that?" she asked in a neutral, completely non-threatening tone.

"Maybe..?" Ark answered coyly, probably against her better judgment.

"Hm…" Bismarck squinted as if she was considering something really hard, then she suddenly grabbed Ark by the hand.

"Wha-What are you-?!"

Ark jerked back in surprise, but then she winced as Bismarck squeezed hard on her finger bones.

"Ow!"

"Huh. You're right. You're not as hard as I thought."

"Ouch! Okay! Okay! I will not record you when you do something stupid!"

" _If_ I do anything stupid."

"Whatever! Just let my hand go!"

Bismarck loosened her fingers slightly and Ark immediately exploited it, pulling her hand very quickly out of the Krupp-steel death grip.

"Sheesh, for such an elegant ship you are way too rough." Ark fumed as she shook her hand, grimacing in pain.

"Yeah, I guess...wait, elegant?"

"Yes." said Ark confidently, still rubbing her hand. "Even though you have a very outdated armor scheme, I really like your classic look. You have a very dignified silhouette."

"I...Okay?" Bismarck looked at Ark weirdly, clearly not expecting such nice compliments from the one that had so severely insulted her just a few minutes ago. "Thank you, I guess?"

"I-I mean I'm not the only one that thinks so!" Ark suddenly added, her face went slightly redder. "Many of the older ships in my navy think that your form reminds them of the old days."

"Do I really look that old?" Bismarck looked down, suddenly having a strong desire to look for patches of loose skin between her fingers.

"No! I do not mean it that way!" Ark strongly denied, perhaps a little bit too strongly. "I mean that you look regal and old-school and...and-"

"Okay, okay." Bismarck raised her hand, stopping the girl from rambling. "I will take your words as compliments. Just...calm down."

"Oh dear…" Ark Royal put a hand on her face, suddenly losing the ability to look at Bismarck in the face."That was...please just forget about that."

"Don't worry. A great headache will probably force me to forget in twelve hours or so." Bismarck said coyly, barely sounding like she regretted her drink. "You know, I've never noticed this before, but you're certainly...active."

"Well, I am just a bundle of explosives and aviation fuel…" Ark looked down, scratching the back of her head while smiling awkwardly, showing her pearly teeth.

"You really are different from when you're on the battlefield…"

"Huh?"

"You are a lot less terrifying. When at sea you look like a warrior, and here…" Bismarck paused.

"Yeah?" Ark prodded.

"Here...you're just a girl."

Silence fell upon the two ships. Ark looked at Bismarck like she was the strangest thing in the world before she broke into a massive grin.

"Of course I'm a girl. What else could I be?"

Hearing that, Bismarck let out a defeated chuckle.

"Apparently it's impolite to just assume these days."

Ark tilted her head. "I don't get it."

"Neither do I, but I was born in 1940, so what do I know, huh?"

Ark raised her eyebrow. "Well, do you consider yourself a girl?" she asked, her head moving slightly closer to Bismarck in a show of curiosity.

Bismarck leaned back on the bench, once again looking at the sky.

"I don't know...all of my crew and my namesake were males, so could it be that my soul is male?" Bismarck kneaded her(?) temple, looking pained. "My brain hurts. Do you have anything else to drink?"

"I think you have enough."

"I guess you're right."

Bismarck closed her eyes for a second, trying to regain focus.

"It's just...it's just that I'm not even sure if I can call myself a human."

Ark looked like she could barely believe what she had just heard.

"That's even sillier. Anyone that looks at you can instantly tell that you're a girl, just like me."

"I wonder…" Bismarck looked down, hiding her face behind a curtain of golden hair.

After Bismarck went silent for some uncomfortable seconds, Ark decided to speak up.

"Is something wrong?" she said, leaning forward to try to take a peek at Bismarck's face behind her hair.

"Hey, princess." Bismarck called out, still hiding her face.

"Princess?" Ark pulled back, surprised that she had suddenly received a new nickname.

"May I ask you a question?" Bismarck straightened her back, revealing a surprisingly composed face.

"Sure." Ark shrugged.

"How did your people react to you? You know, when you...came back."

"Oh?" Ark considered the question for a moment. "Well, I'm not bragging, but they do see me as a hero. I am rather famous, after all. The descendants of my old sailors often invite me to their houses."

"Is that so..." Bismarck said with a weak voice, her eyes looking sadly at the ground.

"And it's not only in my country, either. I often got offered free meals when I was in America." Ark continued with pride in her voice.

"I was actually surprised about how many Americans were so knowledgeable about the history of the Royal Navy. We talked about Trafalgar, Chesapeake, Quiberon, People like Nelson and Raleigh…" Ark continued, the look on her face clearly told that she was reminiscing a pleasant memory.

"That...that sounds very nice." Bismarck looked at Ark Royal sadly with a pained smile. "Being a hero...you should tell me how it feels sometime."

Facing the sad looking Bismarck, Ark could only stare in confusion. But soon her face lit up in understanding.

"Is your home giving you troubles?" she asked, trying her best to make a concerned smile.

Bismarck drew a deep breath and sighed. For a moment she seemed hesitant to continue, but perhaps the alcohol she took gave her all the push she needed to start pouring her heart out.

"That place isn't home anymore." Bismarck turned her eyes towards the sea, to the west, as if she could gaze upon Germany just across the water. "The way the people look at me, they do not see me as a countryman. Hell, they barely see me as a human. At best they see me as a necessary evil, a weapon to throw at the enemy at their convenience. At worst...well…"

Bismarck's voice staggered, her voice coming into a dead stop in her throat.

"I guess you would bring some bad memories for them." Ark said softly.

"What memories?" Bismarck scoffed. "The last of our generation died a long time ago. It's all just inherited guilt at this point."

Ark Royal looked at Bismarck, trying to establish eye contact, though the German seemed insistent on looking at the ground.

"Are you angry?"

"Angry?"

For a moment Bismarck looked unsure, like she did not actually know what she's actually feeling right now. Is she angry?

"Angry...no." she finally answered. "Just...I'm just confused."

Bismarck sat in silence as she waited for Ark to respond, but the British carrier made it clear that she wanted Bismarck to continue. So she did.

"Germany had nurtured a strong military tradition even before my namesake had united her. A unique breed of officer corps with martial culture passed down from father to son ever since the time when Prussia stood alone. All of these died when the last of the old Wehrmacht veterans retired from the Bundeswehr somewhere in the 1980s, and they will never come back."

"And does this upset you?"

Bismarck finally looked at Ark in the eyes.

"Upset? No. Modern Germany certainly has her merits. If I could choose, I would choose to be born today, but...but…"

"But..?" Ark prodded, not allowing Bismarck to stop.

"My Germany is dead, and the new Germany does not want me."

Bismarck suddenly looked back to the sea as if she had just realized something.

"Where can I go when all of this is over? I don't feel like returning."

Bismarck kept on looking at the sea, through the waves, and into the abyss.

"Perhaps it would be simpler for me to sink in battle, after a-"

Bismarck almost jumped when she felt something grasping her hand with a vice grip. She looked down and saw her fingers intertwining with another daintier, fragile-looking set of fingers, holding her hand with the strength you'd expect from someone that used a bowstring to launch warplanes.

"Don't say that." Ark said, her expression reminded Bismarck of a mother that just found out that her daughter is a suicidal wreck. "Don't ever say that."

"Easy for you to say." Bismarck mocked. "You're a hero. I'm just the result of a one man's ego, a waste of good steel."

"Then you must take this as a second chance." Ark said in a tone that was oddly close to begging. "If you think you were a useless waste in the last war, why not try to be a hero in this one?"

"My people now take pride in being a 'post-heroic society'." Bismarck shook her head. "They think that the very concept of 'hero' is an archaic idea only used by warmongers. I don't think I will be called a hero anytime soon."

"Your people can say whatever they want. The fact is that humans will always need something, _someone_ to look up to. They might call them heroes, gods, idols, role models, champions, whatever."

"I'm neither of those. I'm just a war machine."

"M'lady." Ark said mockingly, now starting to look irritated. "When I was in America, I attended a funeral held for a broken explosive disposal robot. There were _tears_."

"What?" Bismarck looked confused, not sure whether Ark was joking or not.

"And he was just a pile of mangled metal. _You've got tits_. A magnificent pair, if I might add. So I'm pretty sure your existential crisis is just you exaggerating things."

"What?" Bismarck repeated, subconsciously using one hand to cover her breasts.

Ark sighed. "Let me make this simple. I think you're just being a proper German and is overthinking a bunch of useless _shites._ " she said exasperatedly, briefly relapsing to her native northern England accent. "Trust me, you'll be fine. Just relax, okay?"

"It's hard to relax when it feels like everyone thinks you're evil."

Ark suddenly chuckled. "I know. I'm British. We know how it feels to have ancestors that had done very terrible things, but we don't get too obsessed over it."

"A lot of people are probably upset about that." Bismarck said in a deadpan manner.

"Oh, sure. Some folks in India are probably pretty upset that we do not spend every waking hour apologizing for strapping their great-granduncles in front of cannons, but we just ignore them. Things are a lot easier that way."

"People that forget history are doomed to repeat it." Bismarck said in an almost whisper, her face challenging Ark to come up with a response.

"Yet many had started a new war exactly because they remembered how they lost the last one." Ark swished her hand, symbolically knocking Bismarck's argument out of the air. "It's a great quote in context, but you must take care to _learn_ from history, instead of just _remembering_ it. Remember only the grudges, remember only the pain, remember every slight and humiliation and before anyone realizes, we've got another great war."

Bismarck looked down. She knew exactly of whose people Ark was talking about.

"Learn from it, respect it, but do not get bound by it." Ark added.

"So what, are you telling me to try to become a hero?"

"No, that'd be silly." Ark mocked. "A hero is not something you just try to be. Those who did try usually ended up dead. No, what I am suggesting is for you to try to become a _person_."

"A...person?" Bismarck repeated in disbelief as if Ark had just uttered an alien word.

"You don't need to be more than human to save the world." Ark smiled, her eyes looking up at Bismarck coyishly.

"Oh?" Bismarck raised her eyebrow challengingly. "And how do you suppose I do that?"

"Hmmm…" Ark put her fingers on her chin, thinking. "From what I've seen, your case is a difficult one. You'll need help."

"Why do I have the feeling that I probably wouldn't like this 'help' of yours?"

"Oh, you'd appreciate it. Probably not immediately, but you will."

"You're being overconfident."

"Maybe. But seeing how spectacular I could mess this up is part of the excitement. You are free tomorrow."

Her last set of words was a statement, not a question.

"How did you know?"

"I keep a close eye on the deployment schedule of every ship in this base. It helps with scheduling my free time. Us humans are social creatures, you know."

"I prefer doing more productive things. Alone."

Ark looked at Bismarck, looking confused.

"How do you even function in a team?"

"Professionals do not need friendships." Bismarck scoffed.

"Riight."

For a moment Ark looked like she was about to say something more, but she shook her head as if to stop herself before slowly standing up.

"I should go. I have a lot to prepare."

"Why do those words worry me?" Bismarck said as she watched Ark began to walk away from her.

"Oh, it'll be fine." said Ark nonchalantly, looking back at Bismarck while still walking, but then she suddenly stopped.

"Oh, and Biscuit?"

"Biscuit?" Bismarck squirmed, surprised by her sudden new nickname.

"If people won't accept you as a hero no matter what you do, you can always try to become my hero instead."

Before Bismarck could digest her words, Ark was already walking away fast, skipping with joy. Bismarck couldn't see her face, but she suspected that the British girl was smiling.

Bismarck was left alone on the bench, watching quietly at Ark Royal's back.

"Crazy Brit."


	2. Prince, Princess, and Chancellor

"Bismarck, ma'am?"

A meek voice calling from behind the door drew Bismarck's attention away from the screen. Her hand grabbed the lid of her laptop and closed it before she put it on the bed next to her lap.

"Come in." She said.

The door opened, revealing a familiar figure.

"Eugen?"

Eugen's blue eyes immediately glanced at Bismarck's recently closed laptop.

"Ah. I'm sorry, are you busy?"

"No, it's just...something non-essential."

Bismarck definitely had not spent the last three hours trying to figure out how did Wi-Fi actually work.

Bismarck took a closer look at Eugen. The heavy cruiser was not wearing her combat uniform, so that meant she was off-duty just as Bismarck herself was. She was instead wearing a tight-fitting orange sweater that very much emphasized the curves of her body, curves that resembled Bismarck's own silhouette more than she was comfortable with. Her face was masked by a very thin layer of makeup that was done very naturally, fitting snugly in the frame of her dark blonde twintails. Her bottom consisted of dark short shorts and hoses ending inside a pair of Mary Jane shoes.

It was all very modern, not giving a single hint that the girl herself was born more than half a century ago.

"You're going off base?"

"Y-yes!" Eugen stammered. The girl tended to be nervous, but Bismarck had noticed that she only acted like this around her.

"Calm down. We all have the same rank."

It's only technically true. Giving Kanmusu places in the military hierarchy was a complicated process. They're infantry, but each one commanded enough firepower to rival an entire conventional fleet. For the sake of convenience, all capital ships and cruisers were given the rank of Captain to at least give them official control over their own bodies, though in reality the line of command would be mostly ad-hoc depending on the operation and available ships. For a Kanmusu, the positions of squadron leader and flagship were much more important than the lines stitched on their shoulders.

"Do you need me for something?" Bismarck asked.

"Well, um…" Eugen stuttered again, still avoiding eye-contact with Bismarck. "I wonder if you'd like to go with me...outside."

"That's an odd request." Bismarck raised her brows.

"S-sorry." Eugen apologized, looking down on her feet.

"I'm not saying no yet, but where are you going?"

"Well, uh…" Eugen played with her fingers, seemingly embarrassed by what she was about to say next.

"It's not illegal, is it?" Bismarck said worriedly.

"No!" Eugen denied strongly. "I just want to buy meat for Sam!"

The image of a cute black and white cat nomming happily on fresh red cuts instantly flashed in Bismarck's mind.

"I personally find it worrying that a soldier like you would find it fit to spend an entire day just for the sake of a single cat."

Eugen shoulders visibly drooped. She slowly took a step back out of Bismarck's room.

"Right...sorry for disturbing you."

"Wait." Bismarck raised her hand right before Eugen managed to close the door. "If you're going to the city, I might also have some business to do there."

Eugen quickly perked up.

"You mean…"

"I'll accompany you...halfway, probably."

Eugen's face lit up with glee, her mouth opening to form a wide toothful smile.

"Thank you , ma'am!"

"Yes, yes." Bismarck hurried, trying to sound as exasperated and annoyed as possible while holding back a large smile herself. "Can you wait outside, please? I need time to change."

"S-sure!" Eugen nodded vigorously before she quickly got out of the room, closing the door behind her. Bismarck then got up from her bed and locked the door before going for her wardrobe.

What she picked was nothing as fancy as what Eugen wore. She merely put on a bra and wrapped a jacket over the grey T-shirt she had already worn. The jacket was leather, but it was red instead of black. In fact, none of her clothes was black. She had made the mistake of wearing black once and it's not a mistake she was willing to repeat.

Being called 'SS' by uneducated children and 'heroic Jewkiller' by men with shaved heads got old really fast.

For the bottom, she picked a pair of freshly-washed jeans. Americans might've designed the thing to be worn for days without laundry, but Bismarck refused to be infected by their laziness. She then completed her attire by donning a pair of white socks and sneakers. She had no idea why the shoes were called sneakers, their hard soles were just as loud as anything else.

Satisfied by her appearance, Bismarck picked up her phone and wallet before opening the door to find Eugen facing her back to her.

"Ah! You're done!" Eugen remarked in surprise when she realized that the door was open.

"I am. Let's go."

Like always, Bismarck locked her door as she was about to leave. Some have told her that she's being paranoid since she lived in a dorm among allies, but perhaps she inherited the habit of closing watertight doors from her former crew? After all, left a door open and unlocked and you'd get yourself an exploding British battlecruiser.

Bismarck and Eugen walked at a brisk pace along the corridor leading to the exit of the battleship dorm, greeting all the Japanese battleships along the way. Well, Eugen greeted them, at least. Bismarck could definitely see how the girl was much more friendly and open towards others compared to how nervous she was when she was alone with her, making her wonder why she insisted on bringing her along if it made her so uncomfortable.

"Um...excuse me, ma'am?" Eugen called with a very soft voice that Bismarck was barely able to hear.

"Yes?"

"You and me...we've been together for a long time, haven't we?"

Bismarck did not really understand the purpose of this question, but she's going to answer it anyway.

"That is correct. For most of my lifetime you've always been by my side."

Eugen looked down, forgetting that she wasn't wearing a hat as she tried to lower a non-existent brim to hide her face.

"Ma'am, If I may ask...do you...do you consider me as a friend?"

"You are my trusted escort." Bismarck answered with her usual cold and professional tone.

"Oh." Eugen said in a neutral voice, though Bismarck could see her shoulders drooping again.

"Was that answer unsatisfactory?"

"No!" Prinz denied loudly. "It's just…"

"It's alright. Say whatever you want. I won't get angry."

Bismarck then realized that she had just talked like a parent, and promptly felt silly. Eugen is a soldier. She did not need to be pampered like a little girl.

"What I want to say..?" Eugen stopped. It took a while for her to realize that she had just been given a permission.

"Ma'am, I just want you to know that you can tell me anything."

"What?" Bismarck slowed her pace. That was a very sudden, out of topic statement that she definitely had not expected.

"I mean, if you have something that's troubling you, it might be better to tell someone instead of keeping it to yourself, and I think I'm pretty good at keeping secrets…"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I-I didn't mean to imply that you do have something that's troubling you, of course! But-"

Eugen was not given the chance to finish her sentence, and she didn't need to. The answer to Bismarck's question was already waiting by the door.

"Oh. Of course." Bismarck put her palm on her face.

"Afternoon, chancellor." the pink haired girl waved.

Bismarck's eyes visibly twitched in annoyance.

"Chancellor?"

"Yeah, I can't decide whether 'chancellor' or 'biscuit' sounds better, so I'm kind of on the fence right now. Which one do you prefer?"

"Neither."

"Yeah, they're both a bit too on the nose." Ark put a finger on her lips. "A good nickname should be subtle, ideally doubling as an inside joke. I'll think of something better."

"Please don't."

"Aw. But Bismarck is such a boring name. You think so too, don't you pudding?"

"Pudding?"

"I don't! I think Bismarck is a very amazing name, ma'am!"

"Pudding?" Bismarck looked at Eugen with an accusing stare.

Realizing what she had just done, Eugen looked down in guilt.

"S...sorry."

"Oh? You don't know? That's what everybody's been calling her for a while now."

"That is a ridiculous name."

Hearing that, Eugen briefly seemed like she was about to say something, but refrained at the end. She merely looked sadly at the floor, not daring to even glance at Bismarck.

"Eugen, could you please leave for a while? I need to speak with this...creature."

Bismarck's words were meant for Eugen, but her eyes never left Ark. She continued to stare angrily at the carrier even as her 'trusted escort' ran out of the door with her hand covering her face.

"Wow." Ark crossed her arms. "That was harsh, even by your standard."

"Did you tell her?"

"Tell her what?" Ark answered with the perfect innocent smile.

"Nevermind that." Bismarck shook her head angrily. "What are you doing here?"

"Why, I'm coming with you guys, of course."

"Wha-"

Bismarck didn't know how she had just realized this, but Ark was also wearing civilian clothes. The only thing she had kept from her usual ensemble was her tiara keeping up her flowing pink hair tidy and proper. All of her usual gears had been replaced by an open, white suit-jacket over what seemed like a tailored shirt, while her jeans revealed some surprisingly thick legs.

"Actually, I'm the one that invited you all."

"What." Bismarck repeated, overwhelmed by this new influx of information.

"I was the one that suggested to little pudding how to draw you out from your hermit nest of a room."

"It's not a hermit nest."

"Oh, please. The way you're working in front of your computer you're almost like your sister, locking yourself in like that."

"I do not have a sister." Bismarck spoke coldly. "Tirpitz and I were merely designed to the same specifications. We do not share blood."

"Ah, but you do not need shared blood to be a family, you know? Take that girl for example." Ark said, pointing at the door Eugen had just run out of.

"What about Eugen?"

"She's been there since the very beginning, hasn't she? Always there for you even when you're an ungrateful stick in the mud, isn't that what family is all about?"

"Are you here just to mock me?"

"No." Ark shook her head, but her smile never left her face. "I'm here to save you from losing a friend."

"Excuse me?"

"That girl loves you, but even she has her limit." Ark crossed her arms again, looking at Bismarck judgmentally. "Keep acting like this and she'll drift away eventually."

"Nonsense. Eugen is a professional. She won't quit just because her charge prefers to be left alone while off duty."

"Oh, sure, she'll still escort you, but it will only because of her responsibilities and not because she cares about you."

"And I'm absolutely fine with that." Bismarck answered spitefully as she reached for the door handle, but before she could get one leg out of the dorm Ark had already grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Let go." Bismarck demanded, her icy blue eyes staring coldly at Ark.

But Ark did not budge. Instead her entire nature suddenly seemed to change. Her smile was gone, and her grey-blue eyes pushed back against Bismarck's stare with twice the intensity. If Bismarck was not so irritated right now, she'd appreciate how quickly the British girl could transform from bubbly to terrifying.

"Before you leave, think about this." Ark said with a soft yet demanding voice. "She thinks of you as a sister, maybe even higher than that. Would you really be okay if she stopped thinking that? She'd be just another one that saw you as a combat asset, something to escort and point towards the enemy and nothing more. Are you really fine with that?"

Bismarck looked at Ark silently, her expression unchanged. The two capital ships, each with the power to destroy an entire Abyssal fleet, stared at each other coldly for ten seconds before Bismarck strongly pulled back, forcing Ark to release her grip on her shoulder.

"Don't follow us." Bismarck said as she walked out of the dorm, right before she slammed the door on Ark's annoyed face.

Bismarck stood still in front of the door, waiting to see if Ark was about to follow her. When the door stayed closed, Bismarck let go of the breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"That damn girl…"

Bismarck turned around in anger...and nearly crashed into Prinz that was standing right behind her.

Bismarck stopped herself just in time, but the surprised Eugen jumped back, somehow managing to step on her own foot.

"Eep!"

Bismarck acted by reflex, lurching forward and encircled her entire right arm around Eugen's waist, unintentionally pressing her against her chest.

Then, Bismarck saw it.

"Eugen…"

"S...sorry." Eugen said again. "I'm just too clumsy…"

"Eugen, your eyes."

"Ah." Eugen raised her hand to her face, touching her wet eyelid. "Sorry…"

Eugen looked down, desperately trying to hide her face.

"Eugen, please, you're trying to hide your tears using my breasts."

"Ehehe…" Eugen gave a stilted laugh. Not even her sadness could shield her from the absurdity of that sentence. "Sorry."

"Stop saying that word."

"So-...okay…"

"Eugen…"

Eugen tried to pull away, but Bismarck tightened her arm, drawing her closer.

"Ma'am…" Eugen looked up, staring at the towering girl in front of her. "You think I'm annoying, right?"

"Wha-"

"I'll leave you alone from now on, so…" Eugen once again tried to push away, but Bismarck didn't let her.

"Eh? Why…"

"Eugen."

Bismarck slowly ran her free hand across Eugen's cheek, carefully removing the wet strands of hair from her skin.

These tears...they were for her.

Bismarck suddenly realized that if she died, people would grieve, but not everyone would grieve for the same reason.

Most would probably just be frustrated from losing such an important combat unit. They would cry for her guns, but not for her.

But Eugen, Eugen would cry for her.

"You're not annoying."

"Huh?"

Bismarck kept moving her hand up, ending in a careful head pat.

"I...I like it. I like it when you barge into my room uninvited to give me the sweets you've made. I like it when you ask me how my day is. I like it when you try to invite me to go out, even when I refuse."

"Ma'am?"

"You…"

Bismarck swallowed. This was such a simple thing to say, so why was it so hard?

"You are my friend."

"Ah."

Eugen looked down yet again, but this time, Bismarck refused to let her hide her face. She cupped Eugen's chin and lifted her face up, revealing a pair of watery eyes.

"Your presence is precious to me."

Honestly, Bismarck was not sure how this whole 'friendship' thing works. But for someone like Eugen, she would gladly give it a shot.

"Would you stand by me until my end?"

That's a perfectly normal thing to say to a friend, right?

"I…"

Eugen's face made a weird, contorted movements, like it's confused whether to smile or cry. It finally met things halfway and did both at the same time.

"Yes. I will."

Bismarck returned the smile, finally letting go of Eugen's waist.

"I'll be counting on that."

"HA!"

The sound of someone clapping awakened the two ships from their stupor. They both turned and were immediately greeted by the sight of Ark, walking towards them with a massive smug smile on her face.

"Now, that wasn't so hard was it?"

Eugen's face suddenly turned red. Realizing where she was she immediately jumped back, putting some distance between her and Bismarck.

"You..! How long have you been listening?" Bismarck confronted, though her angry tone failed miserably at removing the smile from Ark's face.

"Since-the-very-beginning." Ark moved her head left and right like a metronome in a decidedly mocking manner. "But you two were so infatuated with each other that I just became invisible. It made me a bit jealous, actually."

Eugen's face turned sour, obviously annoyed by the British girl. But she didn't look even half as annoyed as Bismarck was.

"My, such frustration on your face. You should use all that pent-up energy to move your legs, hun. Otherwise you wouldn't make it to the deli before closing time."

Ark began walking away towards the gate of the base.

"I'm not going to follow you, but I am going to the city. Feel free to walk beside me. Separately." Ark winked annoyingly at Bismarck before continuing her steps.

"That…"

Bismarck was about to say something, but then she felt a hand squeezing hers. She looked to the side and saw Eugen smiling.

"Let's just follow her, okay?"

Eugen's smile was different than usual. It was...clear, unobstructed by shyness. She stood tall instead of slightly hunching forward like she had always done whenever Bismarck was in the same room as her.

Bismarck suddenly realized that even though Eugen had always been there, she never actually knew her.

"Sure." Bismarck said, returning Eugen's smile as sincerely as her stiff warrior face was capable to. "Let's go."


	3. Extra: Purikura

"Oh! It's a purikura!"

Ark smiled, pointing at a strange large box near the gate of the station.

"A what?" Bismarck said, accidentally shaking her bag of prime cut loin.

"That's a photo booth." said Eugen, her hands full of ingredients. Ark's ingredients. Bread and everything you needed to make a Beef Wellington.

"You get inside and take photos with your friends." Ark explained, rotating her waist to look at Bismarck and swinging her beef roast around her in an orbit.

Bismarck noticed that there were a lot of cameras everywhere in the modern society. In phones, in computers, hanging around every corner as a security solution. The people of today must be quite narcissistic.

"Let's have our picture taken!" Ark said.

"No." Bismarck said instantly.

"Oh, come on. I'll let you keep a picture of me."

"No thanks." Bismarck refused again.

"Pudding, you want your picture taken with Bismarck, right?"

"I…"

Eugen hesitantly looked at BIsmarck. She definitely wanted to. Really wanted to.

"Oh, fine."

"Nice!" Ark shouted, immediately running inside the box. Bismarck and Eugen followed behind, with Bismarck grumping all the way. Bismarck felt like she had been played by Ark for a while now, and this nonsense was just yet another concession in a game she wasn't even willing to play.

After a bit of a struggle the three managed to squeeze into the box. The narcissus box was certainly not designed to handle two capital ships and one heavy cruiser at the same time.

"Alright, pose up, everybody!" Ark said as she put a single Japanese coin into the slot.

Ark positioned herself between Bismarck and Eugen, using her hands to push both ships closer to her to fit the small rectangle frame on the screen in front of them. By the look of her face, Eugen was definitely unsatisfied by this positioning.

The screen began a countdown. Ark smiled widely, Eugen managed to force a nervous smile, and Bismarck just did not care.

The screen counted to one.

And Ark suddenly pushed.

Prinz, being a smaller girl, basically had no hope as Ark pushed her head forward. But even Bismarck with all her power was taken by a surprise.

Before Bismarck could do anything, she had already felt something soft and wet touching her lips, and Eugen's big blue eyes covering her entire field of vision.

"Mmph!?"

It took one entire second for Bismarck to realize what's going on, and another second to utilize her strength to break free from Ark's hold. But before the battleship could smack her, Ark had already bolted out of the box.

"Hey!" Bismarck gave chase, shouting and attracting the attention of all passerby, but her voice was barely even able to make Ark looked back as she ran back to the station gate.

"You know what?! I think I've forgotten to buy something! I'm going back to the city!" She shouted. "Please put my meat in the fridge, not the freezer!"

"W-wait!" Bismarck tried to run after her, but the human density of a Japanese train station quickly discouraged her.

"Dammit!" Bismarck fumed, freely showing her irritation.

In fact, she was so irritated that she did not notice as Eugen sneakily reached into the print slot and put the completed sticker pictures in her pocket.


	4. The Maid of Birkenhead

Bismarck looked at her heavily bandaged right hand, lamenting her own shortcomings.

"Should've been able to dodge that one…" she whispered to herself.

It was just a routine hunter-killer mission. She was supposed to escort the carriers as they hunted for the enemy fleet using their airgroups. But this time it was as far from routine as it could be. An enemy bomber squadron somehow managed to get past their defenses and dropped armor piercing bombs on top of one of the carriers.

At least, that what would've happen if Bismarck didn't pull said carrier under her just before contact.

It felt like a group of trolls just brought down their flaming pickaxes on her at the same time, breaking bones and burning skin in an instant. Bismarck had used her right arm to try to protect herself, and now the entire thing was practically useless, dangling on a sling in braces and splints, with bits of metal jutting out of her skin to adjust her regrowing bones.

Without her right hand, Bismarck couldn't even do desk job. So she herself would also be pretty much useless until either her rigging was repaired or her hand healed, whichever came first.

Sitting and doing nothing. For Bismarck it just felt...wrong, and it annoyed her even more than her physical pain.

"Ugh... I feel like Tirpitz."

She thought that maybe a cup of coffee would calm her nerves. But now that she's in front of the coffee machine she's even more frustrated.

The thing was, Bismarck was right handed.

Now, making a cup of coffee with one hand shouldn't be too difficult, especially with all of the modern day automation, but the way Bismarck's right hand swung on its sling could be pretty unpredictable, and with the painkiller given to her by Akashi sometimes Bismarck just straight up forgot where her entire right arm was.

After she covered the entire table with water, clumping powder, and scattered beans, she just gave up on it. She hated leaving this mess for somebody else to clean up, but she'd just make more mess if she tried to fix it. She'd just have to apologize later.

Dejected, Bismarck walked back into her room, found a chair, and sat. Just...sat.

Bismarck was not sure how long she had been staring thoughtlessly towards the ceiling when she heard a knock on her door.

"Yeah?"

Before Bismarck could say anything, let alone giving the permission to open the door, a red-haired head was already poking through.

"Afternoon." Ark said, smiling.

"Oh, damn."

"Was that mess in the recreation room your doing?" she said. Her grin seemed like it was purposely designed to annoy.

"Look, I don't need this right now." Bismarck sighed.

"You know, if you needed help, you could just ask."

Ark brought her hand forward, revealing a steaming pot of black liquid.

"Ah." Bismarck was stumped. On one hand, Ark was probably the last person she wanted to be with right now, on the other hand, coffee.

"Oh, fine. You can come in."

"Thanks."

Ark Royal came in...and Bismarck's lower jaw dropped through the floor.

"What the hell are you wearing?"

"Oh? This? I just thought that It'll set the atmosphere."

Ark Royal was wearing a black-and-white maid outfit. But judging by the very short skirt and low cleavage, the thing was not made with service job in mind.

"Set the atmosphere for what?" Bismarck asked exasperatedly.

"Well, for serving you of course."

"What."

"You can't use your hand, can you?" she pointed at Bismarck's mangled arm. "So I'll help you out until it's healed."

"I don't need your help." Bismarck said before Ark even managed to close her mouth again.

"Oh, really?" Ark said mockingly, her nose sniffing the air in an overly dramatic manner. "When was the last time you took a bath?"

"N-None of your business!" Bismarck barked out, trying very hard to not instinctively sniff herself. "And what are you going to do? Bathe me?"

Bismarck had meant that as a joke, but the way Ark smiled made her regret saying it.

"No." Bismarck said preemptively, dreading the very concept.

"Oh? What, you don't like the idea of a young girl catering to your every whim?"

"What young girl, grandma?" BIsmarck said with a mocking smirk.

That last jab seemed to get through. Ark's smile instantly turned into a frown. But she quickly recovered and her smile returned in a flash.

"Oh? Then how about someone younger?"

"What?"

"Wait here for a minute. This girl is a lot more shy than I had expected."

"Hold o-"

Bismarck instinctively tried to raise her right hand to stop Ark, fearing what the insane girl would do. She immediately regretted it.

When she stopped wincing in pain, Ark was already gone, her coffee was left on the table near the door.

A while later, just after Bismarck began to hope that Ark had left for good, the door opened again.

Who came through, however, wasn't Ark.

For a moment Bismarck had a hard time recognizing the girl. Which was quite the feat since she had been in her life ever since Bismarck was born.

"Eugen?"

Eugen didn't answer. She merely looked down at the floor in shame, her fingers uselessly tugging down at her very short black skirt.

"Come on, no need to be shy." Ark finally showed up, shoving Eugen inside the room.

Like hell. Her outfit was probably even smaller than Ark's. Even around the chest, to the point that they looked like they're about to burst.

"What...what am I looking at?" Bismarck said, asking more to herself than to anyone.

"She said that she wanted to help you out too, so I got her the threads to match!"

"How the heck did she get you into that.." Bismarck said quietly, just loud enough for Eugen to hear.

Eugen looked towards Ark, refusing to look at Bismarck in the eye.

"See?" Eugen whispered, though Bismarck's sharp ears could easily overhear. "I knew Miss Bismarck would hate this sort of things."

"Does she, though?" Ark Royal tilted her head, looking inquisitive. "Do you really hate this sort of things, hun?"

"I…"

Bismarck shook her head, not knowing what to say. The situation she's in simply had reached a level of absurdity that was beyond words.

"Look, if Eugen wants to help me out, alright. But you...carrier, I don't know what your idea is, but please, just leave me alone."

Hearing that, Ark Royal frowned

"Aw, but we've already got matching uniforms."

"I don't c-"

"We even have matching underwears!"

"Wha-"

Before anyone could stop her, Ark had already placed her hands on the hems of Eugen's skirt and her own, and lifted.

Eugen reacted very explosively, slapping Ark's hand away and covering herself. But not before Bismarck managed to take a glimpse of a black-laced piece of purple satin. The exact same piece that Ark was wearing, in fact, the one that's now being showed freely to the world.

"Please cover yourself." Bismarck covered her eyes with her relatively healthy hand. She was not sure why, but she was not as shocked as she thought she should be. Maybe she got desensitized to Ark?

Ark sighed, panties still showing.

"Oh, well. If you do prefer younger girls, nothing I can do about it. Though I'm really not that much older than you guys." Ark shrugged. "I'll see you around, hun."

With that, Ark turned to exit the room, leaving a suddenly very tired Bismarck and a very red-faced Eugen.

After a while, Bismarck let out a long breath.

"Eugen."

"Y-Yes ma'am?!"

"I don't want to stay awake anymore." she grimaced. "Make me a cup of tea, would you?"


	5. I am a Person

"You know she's technically older than me." whispered Bismarck stroking Prinz's head on her lap.

"Really? " asked Ark Royal who's sitting beside her.

"Yeah, she's born the first of August so about three weeks older than me, give or take."

"So why is she so...childish?"

"I don't know. " Bismarck shrugged, slowly as to not wake the sleeping girl currently using her lap as a pillow. "Probably because my crew is bigger, and since our kind is affected by the experience of our crew, maybe I just have more souls to learn from."

Oh, your crews about two thousand strong right? Does that mean I should call you nee-chan too? My crew is about fifteen hundred. "

"Don't push your luck, brit."

"Hmm." Ark Royal moved slightly further away. "What do you think of her, honestly? The girl, I mean. "

"Well, she's a competent escort with enough initiative to operate independently, which makes her a very valuable asset for the navy. "

"Not like that. " Ark said with an irate smile. "I mean as a woman. "

"Woman? Oh." Bismarck nodded, taking an unusually long time to get what Ark meant.

"She's young, at least inside." Bismarck said. "I don't think she knows what she wants yet."

"Wow." Ark raised her dull pink brows. "I did not expect you to give a serious answer."

"She's too precious for me to joke about, I guess."

"Hmph." Ark pouted, clearly jealous.

"All she has known ever since she's born is war. Even now." Bismarck smiled sadly. "She barely knows anyone outside of a military base."

"I see." Ark said, looking oddly motherly. "You think her love for you is a mistake?"

"Not exactly, it's just…" she shook her head slowly. "I think starting a serious relationship in times of war is wholly irresponsible. People do stupid stuff when they think their life could end at anytime."

"Ah, the suspension bridge effect. "

"If she wants to be with me, she has to wait until this mess is over."

"And if she does confess to you in times of peace, will you accept? "

Bismarck hesitated. "I don't know. "

"I see. "

"What about you? "

"Huh? "

"Are you sure you want to keep obsessing after me? I'm not a military target for you to hunt like a bloodhound anymore. I don't know what you see in me, but I'm sure a girl like you can find a better person."

"Do you really want me to leave?"

"Ah. " Bismarck gasped. she had not quite expected for Ark to ask back with such a serious face.

"To be honest, your presence has been unexpectedly...beneficial for me."

"Oh? "

"Just like Prinz, my life story isn't what you'd call diverse. Combat, back to base, resupply, sortieing, over and over again. the way you've dragged me around lately, it was… refreshing."

"Nothing say war like a maid outfit!" Ark whispered excitedly, somehow.

Bismarck smiled, brushing Prinz's hair with her fingers.

"You taught me how to live, how to be human, to see myself more than a war machine."

"Wow , I did not realize I have such an impact on your life. " Ark smiled half jokingly.

"Some people in my home...Germany, that is, they hate me for being a war machine that was once used by a mad dictator. And for the longest time I hate myself for the same reason. But you've made me realize that I am more than a weapon. I am something that can smile as I take pictures together with my friend, something that can get sick and be mended by people that care for me. I am something that can blush as someone else's lips touch mine. You've made me realize that, and for that, I thank you. "

"I see." Ark was looking down now, hiding her face with her bright pink hair, but Bismarck could tell that she's smiling widely. "I guess you want me to stick around? "

Bismarck sighed, looking at the far wall

"The moon is beautiful tonight. "

"We're indoor. " Ark asked confusedly.

"Yeah. " Bismarck put a hand on her mouth, holding back a chuckle. "I really enjoy your company. "


	6. Childhood Friend

'Can it really be her?'

Battleship Bismarck walked along the corridor with heavy, intense steps. Yet she's surprisingly slow, like she wasn't sure if she actually wanted to reach her destination.

'Why did she spawn here in Japan, and not in Germany? Is fate playing a trick on me?'

"Hey Bismarck!" Ark Royal called out from behind her, yet Bismarck did not even look back. "Would you like to go see a movie tonight?"

"Not now!" Bismarck howled with rage, far more intense than her usual annoyed tone towards the English girl.

"Huh?" Ark could only look in shock at Bismarck's back. This was the first time she had ever seen Bismarck this angry, and here she thought they're finally getting closer.

Bismarck continued to walk after leaving ark Royal behind until she reached the door of the main office. She opened the door, not even bothering to knock. The sight of the old admiral did not even register in her mind. Instead, her face was solely focused on the blue haired girl facing her back to her. She was short, as most submarines were. Her blue hair was short too, barely reaching the neckline of her pitch black, sleeveless wetsuit. She's barefooted, and she was standing in a way that suggested unfamiliarity with the concept of 'legs', showing the pink soles of her feet. Her bare right arm was locked in a salute.

"Submarine U-556, reporting for duty. Sorry, I haven't learned the local language yet." the girl said in English, in a voice that Bismarck had never heard before yet felt stingingly familiar.

The admiral looked at Bismarck, and gave an understanding smile.

"I'm afraid the briefing must wait, soldier. I have an urgent matter to attend to at the summoning lake. Meanwhile, maybe you can catch up with your old friend here."

"Huh?" the blue haired girl turned around, realizing Bismarck's existence for the first time.

When their eyes met, Bismarck's body froze. She couldn't even move her neck enough to give a courteous nod to the admiral as the officer walked past her and through the door.

"Who are you? Why are you crying?"

Was she crying? Bismarck couldn't be sure. Her face felt numb. She spent an entire second gasping like a fish before her voice actually managed to come out.

"Welcome back, Parzival."

"Parzival...wha…" the confusion on the girl's face was quickly washed away by revelation. "Bismarck?"

"Ja." Bismarck bit her lip, anything to stop her from bawling inelegantly.

"Ah."

With disbelief on her face, the girl moved towards Bismarck. First in slow steps, before suddenly breaking into full sprint. Bismarck felt like she was hit by a Yamato when the girl slammed her head on her stomach.

"I'm sorry!" the girl screamed, and Bismarck began to feel her shirt getting wet. "I'm sorry! I'm an oathbreaker! I'm sorry!"

"It's not your fault." Bismarck said, fighting through the girl's anguished apology and her own tears. "It's not your fault. There's nothing to be forgiven."

"It was...my tubes were empty! I couldn't..! I really tried..!" The girl stuttered, her brain too clouded by guilt to form proper sentences.

"It's okay, it's okay." Bismarck hugged the distraught submarine, though her words appeared to have failed her. The girl continued to cry.

"My words meant nothing! My oath meant nothing!"

Bismarck kneeled, bringing the submarine to her eye level. U-556 looked at Bismarck, tears on her face.

"Bismarck?"

Without a word, Bismarck planted a kiss on the girl's forehead, before pressing both their foreheads together. Their eyes now barely an inch away from one pair to another.

"Bismarck? What..?"

The confusion brought by the act was enough for Bismarck's words to be heard. One sentence that really mattered.

"I forgive you."

It was like bombing a dam.

The girl just screamed. She screamed for what felt like hours. She screamed loud enough that it could be heard through half of the entire base. Bismarck did what she could, hugging the small girl in her massive embrace. Holding back her own tears, trying to be an anchor, a beacon, anything to keep the girl she held dear from being swept away in a sea of emotion.

Meanwhile, behind the door, Ark Royal stood, not sure of what to do.

* * *

 **Wir U556 (500 to) erklären hiermit vor Neptun, dem Herrscher über Ozeane, Meere, Seen, Flüsse, Büche, Teiche und Rinnsale daß wir unserem grossen Bruder, dem Schlachtschiff Bismarck (42.000 to) in jeder Lage, zu Wasser, unter Wasser, zu Lande wie in der Luft beistehen wollen.**

 **Hamburg, den 28. Januar 1941**

 **Kommandant u**

 **Besatzung U556**

 _We, U-556 (500 tons), hereby declare before Neptune, Lord over oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, brooks, ponds, and rivulets, that we will provide any desired assistance to our Big Brother, the battleship Bismarck (42,000 tons), at any place on the water, under water, on land, or in the air._

 _Hamburg, 28 January 1941_

 _Commander &_

 _Crew U556_


End file.
